Shahnawaz Khan, one of the three accused in the famous Red Fort trials, was the Congress MP from here in 1957 and 1962. He lost the 1967 election, and won back the seat for the Congress in 1971. In 1977, after Kailash Prakash of the BLD trounced him in the anti-Emergency wave, Khan went into oblivion before meeting his Maker. In the 1980 and 1984 elections this seat was represented by Mohsina Kidwai of the Congress, before Harish Pal of the JD wrested it from her in 1989. The 1991 election was countermanded owing to large-scale violence. The BJP's Amar Pal Singh won the seat in 1996, defeating Mohamed Afzal of the JD by 168,000 votes, with the BSP's Hazi Noor Ilahi coming third with 104,484 votes. The Congress's Prabhu Dayal was in fourth place, with 10.34 % of the vote.